Side rollover of vehicles is a serious safety concern. A vehicle rollover event is defined as an event in which the tread of all of the wheels of a vehicle breaks contact with the ground, and the side or the roof of the vehicle contacts the ground.
It is possible that incidents of rollover accidents may be increasing for vehicles such as passenger vehicles, apparently due to changing demographics of vehicles in current use. For example, vehicles that have a higher center of gravity, such as sport utility vehicles, have become increasing popular in recent years. Thus, there has been an associated increase in the efforts to reduce the propensity of vehicles to rollover and also in the efforts to protect vehicle occupants in the event of a vehicle rollover. An example of an effort to reduce propensity of vehicle roll includes provision of active devices that control steering and suspension. An example of an effort to protect a vehicle occupant during a vehicle rollover event is the provision of pyrotechnic side curtain devices that are actuated upon the event of a vehicle rollover.